Wearable percussion/vibration device

Abstract

A wearable device for vibration and/or percussion treatment, such as a covering configured to be worn by a person, such as patient, around the chest of the person, a plurality of actuators provided at the covering, and a control system in communication with the actuators and configured to provide independent and sequential operation of the actuators to generate progressive constriction and relaxation for providing movement of material in a person's lungs in the direction of the sequential operation of the actuators.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A wearable device for vibration and/or percussion treatment:
 a covering configured to be worn by a person around the chest of the person;   a plurality of actuators provided at said covering; and   a control system in communication with said actuators and configured to provide independent and sequential operation of said actuators to generate progressive constriction and relaxation for providing movement of loose matter in a person's lungs in the direction of the sequential operation of the actuators.   
     
     
         2 . The wearable device according to  claim 1 , wherein the actuators comprise a pneumatic bladder, said bladder having a plurality of chambers, said chambers forming spaced actuation regions or nodes, and said control system directing air flow to said chambers to pressurize the chambers generally to a base pressure and directing air flow to the chambers to generate increased pressure in the chambers sequentially which when worn by the person applies sequential compression or constriction to the person's chest. 
     
     
         3 . The wearable device according to  claim 2 , wherein the chambers are positioned to align with preselected regions, such as lobes or zones, of the person's lungs. 
     
     
         4 . The wearable device according to  claim 2 , wherein the chambers are grouped into five regions, with each region for aligning with and corresponding to a lobe of the person's lungs. 
     
     
         5 . The wearable device according to  claim 2 , wherein the chambers are configured to form open loops around the person's chest. 
     
     
         6 . The wearable device according to  claim 5 , wherein the loops are arranged generally in parallel, but are controlled by said control system in series. 
     
     
         7 . The wearable device according to  claim 2 , wherein said control system includes a pneumatic supply of air and tubing to selectively direct the air from the pneumatic supply to the chambers. 
     
     
         8 . The wearable device according to  claim 1 , wherein the actuators comprise a plurality of pneumatic bladders, each bladder forming an actuation region or node, and said control system directing air flow to said bladders to a base pressure and selectively applying increased pulse pressure to one of the bladders independent of the other bladders. 
     
     
         9 . The wearable device according to  claim 8 , wherein the control system is configured to provide independent control of the base pressure, cycle frequency of the pulse pressure, and pulse pressure magnitude. 
     
     
         10 . The wearable device according to  claim 1 , wherein the actuators comprise a plurality of vibration pads, each pad forming an actuation region or node, and said control system controlling selectively causing said pads to vibrate sequentially and independent of the other pads. 
     
     
         11 . The wearable device according to  claim 10 , wherein the pads are configured to apply a base level pressure to the person's chest. 
     
     
         12 . The wearable device according to  claim 1 , wherein the actuators are mounted to or in a vest. 
     
     
         13 . A wearable device for vibration and/or percussion treatment:
 a covering configured to be worn by a person around the chest of the person;   a plurality of bladders provided at said covering;   a supply of air; and   a control system in communication with said supply of air and said bladders, said control system configured to control the flow of air from said air supply to said bladders to inflate or deflate said bladders in a sequence to provide progressive constriction and relaxation to the chest of the person wearing the device to induce movement of loose matter in a person's lungs in the direction of the sequential operation of the bladders.   
     
     
         14 . The wearable device according to  claim 13 , wherein said bladders are arranged to form a plurality of adjacent open loops for extending around the chest of the person wearing the device, said bladders forming spaced actuation regions or nodes. 
     
     
         15 . The wearable device according to  claim 14 , wherein said loops are generally parallel. 
     
     
         16 . The wearable device according to  claim 13 , wherein said control system is configured to direct air flow to said bladders to pressurize the bladders to a base pressure and is configured to direct air flow to a first selected bladder to generate increased pressure over said base pressure in said first selected bladder, and said control system being configured to deflate said first selected bladder generally back to said base pressure and to direct air flow to a second selected bladder to generate increased pressure over said base pressure in said second selected bladder. 
     
     
         17 . The wearable device according to  claim 16 , wherein said first selected bladder is adjacent said second selected bladder. 
     
     
         18 . The wearable device according to  claim 13 , wherein said bladders form pneumatically isolated chambers. 
     
     
         19 . A method of applying sequential compression to a person's chest, said method comprising the steps of:
 locating a plurality of actuators about a person's chest;   controlling the actuators to apply pulses of pressure to the person's chest; and   wherein said controlling includes causing the actuators to apply pulses in a sequence to generate sequential compression on the person's chest.   
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein said controlling further includes causing the actuators to apply a base pressure to the person's chest and then to apply a pulse of increased pressure over of the base pressure in a sequence.